Abstraction and non-objective expressions of mood and feeling have long been the hallmark of my work. Although there are times when the "feel" of landscape develops, times when the figure emerges and those when symbolism becomes important, such references to "reality" have never been engineered or forced into being by my conscious mind but rather have emanated from the deeper wellsprings of the Unconscious and have thus been statements of the Spirit.
For some years now , one of my major concerns has been to investigate and express the Life Force inherent in the Universe. One day, while watching water and pigment flow and coalesce on wet paper,
Nature
Surf 1
Day's End
I was struck by the possibility of this phenomenen's offering an answer to my search. The interaction seemed so alive, so exciting, so teeming with some Force greater than just paper, paint and water. Efforts to augment and control this natural reaction eventually afforded me a means of intensifying the flow and crystalizing the movement. The resultant sense of arrested motion seems to communicate a feeling of some mysterious and dynamic force at work.
Yet these attemps to visualize, capture and control this Energy also seems to invoke within me one of Life's deepest conflicts: the desire to flow with/the rage against this Force controlling the Universe. The dichotomy of this Power---at times benevolent/at times merciless---has intrigued , bewildered, antagonized and frustrated Mankind throughout the Ages and has remained always illusive.
In my own pursuit of ways to probe into, make manifest and perhaps one day understand some of these many mysteries, I dream also of finding a significant answer to the Universal Quest . . . the search for Meaning. As Gaugin put it: "Who are we, where do we come from, where are we going?"
Verna Brady
Surf 2
Reflections
Moth Orchid
High Meadow 1
High Meadow 2
bay fog
Papillon
Other figurative watercolors
Figure, title unknown
The Wall
The Survivor
